fix crime

Potential criminals must be targeted ‘before they are born’, says police chief

Jun 11 2010 By Stian Alexander

CHILDREN must be targeted before birth to stop them being lost to a life of crime, a police chief claimed yesterday.

Dumfries and Galloway chief constable Patrick Shearer fears police are not acting soon enough to stop children falling into a pattern of crime and substance abuse on Scotland’s poverty-stricken schemes.

And he has urged early interventions in their lives to give them the chance for a stable future.

Shearer, who is president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, spoke out to the service magazine Police Review.

In the wake of the fly-on-the-wall show The Scheme – which exposed grim lives on the Onthank estate in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire – he said kids must be targeted “almost at the pre-birth stage” to stop the cycle of deprivation continuing.

He said this was the only alternative to “pouring resources” into dealing with the consequences of crime.

The chief explained Scotland needed to “change its approach to policing”, adding: “It is about sharing information and coming up with positive interventions for youngsters, sometimes almost at pre-birth stage.

“We know the families that cause us difficulties and we can identify when children are born that they are going to require an awful lot more support.

“The public will be a lot happier if you are preventing crime rather than pouring resources into detecting, where the costs are much, much greater and the victims are having to suffer the consequences of crime.

“It is much better if we can get out there and prevent it in the first place.”

Shearer said the Scottish police service needed to work with schools and health professionals to target potential offenders, adding: “There is no doubt in my mind early intervention must be the cornerstone of delivering better outcomes for people’s lives.”

And he claimed that part of the problem in delivering the service he wants was the “ticketing culture” in various Scottish forces.

He went on: “The temptation is to measure the success of a police officer by the number of tickets he issues or the stop searches she carries out, rather than by the influence they have on the youths they took time to engage.”

One officer, who has worked in Edinburgh for the past 10 years, said: “We all watched The Scheme on the BBC and this is exactly what the chief is talking about.

“You see kids growing up and you know from the moment they are born that they are very likely to be someone you will be arresting in the future.”

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “Safer communities are our bottom line. And if we are going to deliver those outcomes in the context of shrinking budgets, we cannot afford to carry on as before.

“It is time for fresh thinking and new approaches.”

The Scheme was taken off air after one of its subjects was arrested.

The show – which more than one in four people in Scotland watched when it was aired last month – tracks the lives of people mainly hooked on drugs and booze and embroiled in crime.

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If you up-bring your kids properly with values,understanding and kindness they would not be criminals.If kids don’t have proper guidance,that’s why they are messed up. If you have them , support them. If you don’t have time for your kids , don’t have them. Don’t let the TV,friends,foster home,playground do the upbringing.Mother and father give the best values of both words.

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.Frederick Douglass

Future gang members ‘can be spotted at age three’ *

Children as young as three can be identified as violent gang members of the future, according to a new Government report.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, unveiled plans to cut off gang violence at the root by intervening in “problem families” from the moment children are born.

A new Home Office report said the beginnings of teenage violence lie in the “very earliest childhood experience”.

It found warning signs are “already clear” by the time a child enters primary school, including neglect, aggression, absence from class and slow development.

Children identified as “at risk” by the age of three are more than twice as likely to have criminal convictions by the age of 21, the report said.

“Early intervention is absolutely key,” Mrs May said. “That may need to come at a very early age indeed, with toddlers, ensuring they just don’t go down that road.”

Mrs May insisted that “very often the effective intervention is not the expensive intervention”.

She said hundreds of thousands of pounds can be spent on a single “problem family”, but often the money is not spent in the right way.

Iain Duncan-Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, estimated that around £12,000 was needed to “turn a family around” Improving “dysfunctional” communication between hospitals, social workers and police is crucial, he said.

Mr Duncan-Smith wants these organisations to “map” the family life of youths who are at risk of joining gangs or already members.

It is also planning to bring in injunctions for children as young as 14 to stop them socialising with gang members or going into certain problem areas. Around 100 experts in youth violence will be hired to tackle areas with particular problems.

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No new money will be available for prevention of gang violence, since riots involving hundreds of gang members blighted London and other UK cities over the summer.

However, the Government had previously promised around £10 million will be re-directed from other areas of the Home Office next year to tackle the problem in general.

Mrs May insisted that “very often the effective intervention is not the expensive intervention”.

She said hundreds of thousands of pounds can be spent on a single “problem family”, but often the money is not spent in the right way.

Iain Duncan-Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, estimated that around £12,000 was needed to “turn a family around” Improving “dysfunctional” communication between hospitals, social workers and police is crucial, he said.

Mr Duncan-Smith wants these organisations to “map” the family life of youths who are at risk of joining gangs or already members.

As part of a package of measures, the Government also wants to re-house gang members and their families if they show willingness to leave behind their lives of crime.

It is also planning to bring in injunctions for children as young as 14 to stop them socialising with gang members or going into certain problem areas. Around 100 experts in youth violence will be hired to tackle areas with particular problems.

Violence against girls connected to gangs was another key problem identified in the report.

Mrs May said it was a “chilling” development that girls are being raped during disputes between rival gangs.

“They would be the partners of gang members,” the Home Secretary said. “They would find themselves being abused and sometimes being used as weapons – raping a rival gang leader’s girlfriend to get back at that gang.”

She said the Home Office would provide £1.2 million of extra funding for an estimated 10,000 victims of sexual violence by gangs.

As many as 200 gangs cause fear in communities across London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and other UK cities.

The Government’s goal is to cut youth violence by the end of this parliament. However, Mrs May’s critics said she had failed to address the impact of spending cuts on local authorities, police forces and charities who work to reduce the problem.

Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, said she applauded the aims of reducing gang violence, but “it sits badly with 20pc cuts to Sure Start and well over 20pc of cuts to the youth service.”

Mehboob Khan, of Local Government Association, welcomed the recognition that “violence on the streets often starts with trouble in the home”.

But he said councils, not central government or agencies, should be at the forefront of work to tackle gangs and called for the next year’s £10 million of funding to be directed straight to local areas.